Madrid drew tens of thousands of housing protesters on Saturday as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez weighed calling an early election. The government’s defeated housing bills and who gets to decide Spain’s political direction sat at the heart of the dispute. Organisers put the crowd at 500,000; the government’s delegation in Madrid estimated 70,000.
Four columns filled the capital’s main boulevards. They converged at Cibeles Square. Activists had camped for about a week in Puerta del Sol, one of Madrid’s main tourist squares. Demonstrations also took place in cities and islands including Donostia, Cádiz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Tenerife.
Housing votes and the election question
Parliament rejected two housing bills on Friday, one day before the protests. The government unveiled the measures on Tuesday after delays, proposing curbs on speculative practices, extended eviction protections for vulnerable tenants and automatic renewals of existing contracts. The first decree drew 172 votes in favour and 178 against; the second received 166 in favour and 184 against. PP, Vox and UPN opposed both, while Junts refused to back them.
Sánchez closed his speech on the decrees with a warning to opponents: “History will judge you sooner than you think and more harshly than you imagine.” Senior government figures said he was considering an early election after the bills fell. Sánchez stayed out of sight as he weighed his options. He alone would decide whether to call a vote.
Opposition figures called for an election, as did Emiliano García-Page, the Socialist president of Castilla-La Mancha, and Socialist party leaders in Extremadura, the Basque Country and Castilla y León. They said voters needed to be heard. Some PSOE leaders and ministers were also said to favour an election.
The People’s Party led electoral polls with 34% support and was open to forming a government with Vox, polling at 18%. Sánchez’s Socialists had 26% support and would need a fragmented left to unite behind an electoral alliance capable of winning enough seats to form a coalition.
Rent pressure and protest demands
The protests followed the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the apartment where she had lived since 1956. Housing campaigners said an investment company bought the property and sought to raise her rent by 275%. After public backlash, the new owners agreed to let her return at a low rent. Euronews reported that Abascal was carried out on a stretcher and was recovering in hospital.
Average rents in Spain had climbed nearly 90% over the past decade, Spanish Tenants Union spokesperson Valeria Racu said. The union demands a 50% rent cut, open-ended contracts and the expropriation of homes from vulture funds. Racu said organisers hadn’t set a date for a proposed general strike; they were negotiating with other organisations and wanted to make it “historic.”
“The people on the streets once again hold the power,” Racu said. She added that the movement “will no longer tolerate inaction,” and said protesters would keep pressuring politicians “regardless of who governs this country.” The Tenants’ Union said there was “an irreparable disconnect between what the people want and what the parties vote for.”
National pressure and regional protests
Sánchez had held office since 2018, and protesters accused him of failing to address the housing crisis during that time. His government also faced pressure over the ongoing migrant crisis in Ceuta and corruption cases involving members of Sánchez’s family and close political allies.
In Valencia, protesters marched toward the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, where the Valencia Real Estate Summit 2026 property investment conference was taking place. Some protesters pulled down barriers and the police cordon, then threw objects at officers. Police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Several people reached the building’s upper part.
In Cádiz, organisers said average rent was about 900 euros and buying a home cost 200,000. The march ended at City Hall with a manifesto reading. Demonstrations also took place in Donostia and Barcelona. Luana Rocha, a member of the Barcelona camp, told TVE: “We are heading towards a general strike.”